Roberto Di Matteo (; born 29 May 1970) is an Italian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player. A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, he played for Swiss clubs

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the d ...

early in his career. After winning the Swiss league title with Aarau in 1992–1993, he joined Serie A team

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

where he played under managers Dino Zoff and Zdeněk Zeman. After three seasons at Lazio, he joined Chelsea in 1996 for a £4.9 million fee, a club record at the time. He retired as a player in February 2002 at the age of 31 following injury problems. Born in Switzerland to Italian parents, he was capped 34 times for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, scoring two goals, and played in

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

and the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

. Di Matteo began his managerial career with Milton Keynes Dons, whom he took to the League One playoffs in 2008–09 before leaving to return

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

to the Premier League. As

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

of Chelsea, he steered the club to double title success, winning both the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

and the club's first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

title in 2012, but was dismissed later that year. He coached Schalke 04 for seven months in 2014–2015 and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

for four months in 2016.

Club career

Early career

Born in

, Switzerland to Italian parents from

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...

, Di Matteo began his career with Swiss club

, before joining

in 1991. He won the Swiss Nationalliga A with Aarau in 1993.

Lazio

He signed for

in the summer of 1993 on a free transfer. Di Matteo became a regular starting-11 member of the Lazio side in midfield under managers

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is the oldest ever ...

and later Zdeněk Zeman, and he made his debut for the Italy national team during his three seasons with the Rome club. Under Zeman, he was frequently deployed in the central midfield role, in which he was required to aid the team defensively – thanks to his formation as a sweeper during his youth – as well as offensively and creatively. During his time at the club, he developed into one of the top two-way central midfielders in Italy.

Chelsea

Di Matteo scored the winner against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

on his home debut for Chelsea. His passing ability and accurate long-distance shooting saw him become one of the driving forces of Chelsea's resurgence in the late 1990s, along with several other Italian players. He contributed nine goals in his first season, including long-range efforts against both

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

. He helped the club finish sixth place in the league, their highest placing since 1989–90, and reach the 1997 FA Cup final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. Within 42 seconds of the kick-off of the final against Middlesbrough, Di Matteo scored the opening goal from 30 yards and Chelsea won 2–0. Di Matteo's goal was the fastest in a Wembley FA Cup final until the record was broken by

Louis Saha Louis Laurent Saha (born 8 August 1978) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Saha was capped 20 times for the France national team and scored four goals. Louis Saha was a former scholar at the Clairefontaine foo ...

for Everton in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. The following season Di Matteo again proved his worth to the team, contributing ten goals and numerous assists, as Chelsea went on to claim the

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

and the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

, their first European honour since 1971. In the League Cup final, again against Middlesbrough, Di Matteo scored the second goal in a 2–0 win. Di Matteo played in midfield next to Gus Poyet, Dennis Wise and Dan Petrescu in the 1998–99 season as Chelsea finished third. During the 1999–2000 season Di Matteo was sidelined by injury but returned late in the season to score a handful of crucial goals, including his third Cup-winning goal at Wembley, once again in the

. In a dour match, Di Matteo capitalised on an error by

goalkeeper David James to score the winner in the 72nd minute, handing Chelsea their fourth major trophy in three years. This led Di Matteo to comment on the old Wembley Stadium saying "It's a shame they're tearing the old place down it has been a very lucky ground for me". Early into the 2000–01 season, Di Matteo sustained a triple leg fracture in a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

tie against Swiss side St. Gallen and did not play for the next eighteen months. He gave up on hopes of returning from this injury in February 2002 and retired at the age of 31. In his six years at Chelsea, Di Matteo made 175 appearances and scored 26 goals.

Chelsea statistics

Club

International career

Di Matteo made his

debut under Arrigo Sacchi on 16 November 1994 in the Stadio La Favorita in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

. He came on as a 55th-minute substitute for Demetrio Albertini as Italy lost 2–1 to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

in qualification for

. He made his first start in his second cap, a friendly 3–1 victory over

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

on 21 December 1994 in the Stadio Adriatico in

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

. Di Matteo played two of Italy's group matches in UEFA Euro 1996, against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. His first goal was scored on his 23rd cap, in qualification for the

, on 30 April 1997 in a 3–0 win against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. Di Matteo only scored one more goal for Italy, in a friendly win over

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

on 28 January 1998. He was a member of Italy's FIFA World Cup team in 1998 and played two of their group games, against Chile and Cameroon. The match against Cameroon in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

was his last game for Italy; in total he made 34 caps for Italy between 1994 and 1998, scoring 2 goals.

Style of play

Under his Lazio managers Zeman and

, Di Matteo was frequently deployed in the central holding midfield role in the team's 4–3–3 formation, in which he was required to aid the team defensively, owing to his formation both as a sweeper and as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

in a zonal defence during his youth in Switzerland. He was also important in helping his team offensively and creatively, functioning as a deep-lying

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

for Lazio under Zeman, and helping to set the tempo of his team's play and create chances through his precise passing range, technique, control, finesse, composure, and vision; as such his role was often likened to that of a '' metodista'' ("centre-half," in Italian football jargon), due to his ability to dictate play in midfield as well as assist his team defensively. During his stint in Rome, he was regarded as one of the best two-way central midfielders in Italy, and was also later considered to be one of the top midfielders in the Premier League during his time in England, becoming a key player for Chelsea in the late 90s. Di Matteo was also capable of playing in a more offensive midfield roles, due to his ability to make forward surging runs, as well as his accurate long–range shot.

Managerial career

Milton Keynes Dons

On 2 July 2008, Di Matteo succeeded former England midfielder

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of Reading. A midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1986 to 2007, starting his career with West ...

as manager of Milton Keynes Dons on a one-year contract, after Ince took the manager's job at

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. A club statement by the Dons said that both Di Matteo and the club were "young, ambitious and hungry to succeed". On 26 November that year, Di Matteo took former Chelsea teammate and Norwegian international striker

Tore André Flo Tore André Flo (born 15 June 1973) is a Norwegian professional football coach and a former striker who previously was the manager of 1. divisjon club Sogndal. He was capped 76 times, scoring 23 goals for Norway, and represented his country ...

out of retirement by signing him on a contract until the end of the season. In his only season at Stadium MK, Di Matteo led his team to third place in League One behind Leicester City and Peterborough United. They then lost a play-off semi-final on penalties to Scunthorpe United, with Flo missing the decisive penalty in sudden death.

West Bromwich Albion

Di Matteo was appointed manager of

on 30 June 2009, shortly after their relegation from the Premier League and the exit of former manager Tony Mowbray to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

. His selection was unanimous among the club's board. In his first season, the team finished second in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

, behind

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, and won automatic promotion to the Premier League on 10 April with three games remaining after defeating

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

3–2. On the opening day of the 2010–11 Premier League season on 14 August 2010, Di Matteo paid a return visit to Stamford Bridge as head coach of West Bromwich Albion. He was well received by the home fans, but saw his side lose 6–0 to Chelsea. Better results in following matches led to the best start in a Premier League season by the club, and Di Matteo was also named

Premier League Manager of the Month The Premier League Manager of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League manager each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to ...

for September 2010. During December 2010 and January 2011, the club had a period of poor form, winning only two of ten matches. After a 0–3 defeat to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

on 5 February 2011, he was relieved of his duties with immediate effect, and first-team coach

Michael Appleton Michael Antony Appleton (born 4 December 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of EFL League Two club Shrewsbury Town. As a player, he operated as a midfielder, in a nine-year career that ...

was appointed

. West Bromwich Albion finished the season in eleventh position.

Chelsea

2011–12

Di Matteo was appointed assistant to

André Villas-Boas Luís André de Pina Cabral e Villas-Boas (; born 17 October 1977) is a Portuguese sports executive, and former professional Manager (association football), football manager, who is currently the List of FC Porto presidents, president of Port ...

, the new manager of Chelsea, on 29 June 2011. On 4 March 2012, following the dismissal of Villas-Boas, Di Matteo became

of Chelsea until the end of the season. Shortly after his appointment, Di Matteo brought in former Chelsea teammate Eddie Newton to work as his assistant. Di Matteo started his stewardship of Chelsea in winning form, with victories over Birmingham City, in a fifth round FA Cup match; Stoke City in a Premier League fixture; and

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

in the last 16 second leg match in the

, winning 4–1 to overturn the deficit in the first leg which Villas-Boas' Chelsea had lost 3–1. Di Matteo continued his form with Chelsea, by beating

in the FA Cup semi-final 5–1 at Wembley and Benfica in the Champions League

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. On 24 April 2012, Di Matteo led Chelsea to a 3–2 aggregate win over holders

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in the UEFA Champions League semi-final, winning 1–0 in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, and following this with a 2–2 draw in the second leg at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

despite having captain

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional Coach (association football), football coach and former Association football, player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, the En ...

sent off in the first half. On 5 May, Chelsea won 2–1 against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the 2012 FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, to win their first trophy in the 2011–12 season. On 19 May 2012, Di Matteo guided Chelsea to victory in the

2012 UEFA Champions League final The 2012 UEFA Champions League final was an association football match which took place on Saturday, 19 May 2012 between Bayern Munich of Germany and Chelsea of England at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. The match was to decide the winner ...

, defeating Bayern Munich at the

Allianz Arena Allianz Arena (; known as Munich Football Arena for UEFA competitions) is a Association football, football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely kno ...

. The match had ended 1–1 after extra time with Chelsea coming out victorious in the penalty shootout. This was Chelsea's first Champions League title, and qualified them for the 2012–13 Champions League, in place of London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. With this win Chelsea also became the first London club to win the Champions League.

2012–13

On 13 June 2012, Chelsea announced that Di Matteo had been appointed manager and first-team coach on a permanent basis signing a two-year contract with the club. Chief executive Ron Gourlay said: 'Although he (Di Matteo) has set the bar very high in the short time he has been in charge, we know that Roberto is the right man to lead Chelsea onto further success.' Gourlay added: 'We are already looking forward to the 2012–13 season which kicks off when Roberto, his staff and players return for pre-season.' Chelsea lost in the 2012 FA Community Shield to Manchester City 2–3. His team started the 2012–13 Premier League well, with victories against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, and

. They lost the 2012 UEFA Super Cup 4–1 to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

in Monaco on 1 September. The good early season form continued with four successive Premier League wins against Stoke City,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

and Tottenham Hotspur. In the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League, Chelsea drew 2–2 with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

and beat Danish club Nordsjælland 4–0 away. Their form declined after this, however, losing to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and to Manchester United at home in the Premier League. Chelsea's chances of advancing through their Champions League group were raised with a 3–2 home victory against leaders Shakhtar, but on 21 November 2012, Di Matteo was sacked following their 3–0 away loss to Juventus in the Champions League, which all but eliminated them from the competition. Di Matteo had lasted just eight months as manager of Chelsea despite winning two major trophies, causing the decision to be controversial with many pundits and club fans. Later that day,

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. He was most recently the manager of La Liga club RC Celta de Vigo, Celta Vigo. Beníte ...

was brought in as Chelsea's interim manager until the end of the season. In November 2013, it was reported that Di Matteo was still being paid £130,000-a-week by Chelsea because the two parties had never agreed on a pay-off settlement and that he would continue to be paid in full until June 2014 unless he took another job before then.

Schalke 04

On 7 October 2014, Di Matteo was hired as the successor to Jens Keller at Schalke 04. At that point, Schalke sat 11th in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

and had already been eliminated from the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

. Di Matteo was the third Italian head coach in the history of the Bundesliga, preceded by

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian former Association football, football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Football in Italy, Italian football ...

and

Nevio Scala Nevio Scala (; born 22 November 1947) is an Italian football sporting director, coach and former player. Throughout his footballing career, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs, and won several titles during his time with AC Mila ...

. He won his first match 2–0 against Hertha Berlin on 18 October, with goals from

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Dirk Jan Klaas Huntelaar (born 12 August 1983), known professionally as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (), is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Huntelaar played for PSV Ein ...

and Julian Draxler. Schalke advanced from their Champions League group, with Max Meyer scoring the only goal in their final group match away to NK Maribor on 10 December. On 10 March 2015, Schalke defeated

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

4–3 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. However, Schalke lost 2–0 in the first leg on 18 February and 5–4 on aggregate. He resigned on 26 May 2015 after the team qualified for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

by finishing sixth, following a run of two wins in ten matches which cost them a place in the Champions League.

Aston Villa

On 2 June 2016, Di Matteo was appointed the manager of newly relegated Championship club

, working under the new chairman Tony Xia and Keith Wyness. Di Matteo's former Chelsea teammate Steve Clarke was appointed as his assistant on the same day. On 3 October 2016, Di Matteo was sacked as manager after a string of poor results culminating in a 2–0 defeat at Preston North End.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

On 4 January 2023, Di Matteo was appointed as a technical advisor to the South Korean football club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

Personal life

Di Matteo is married, the name of his wife is Zoe, and they have three children. In 2005, he appeared on the

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

show ''Footballers' Cribs'', where he spoke about his injury and subsequent physiotherapy.

Career statistics

International

International goals

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Aarau * Nationalliga A: 1992–93 Chelsea *

: 1996–97, 1999–2000 *

: 1997–98 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1997–98 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Manager

West Bromwich Albion *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

runner-up: 2009–10 Chelsea *

: 2011–12 *

: 2011–12 Individual *

: September 2010 *Swiss Sports Awards Coach of the Year:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

* LMA FA Cup Manager of the Year: 2012 * League One Manager of the Month: November 2008

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Di Matteo, Roberto 1970 births Living people Footballers from Schaffhausen Italian men's footballers Italian football managers Italy men's international footballers Swiss men's footballers Swiss football managers Swiss people of Italian descent Men's association football midfielders FC Schaffhausen players FC Zürich players FC Aarau players SS Lazio players Chelsea F.C. players Swiss Super League players Serie A players Premier League players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Milton Keynes Dons F.C. managers West Bromwich Albion F.C. managers Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Chelsea F.C. managers FC Schalke 04 managers Aston Villa F.C. managers English Football League managers Premier League managers Bundesliga managers UEFA Champions League–winning managers Italian expatriate football managers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate football managers in England Expatriate football managers in Germany 20th-century Italian sportsmen

Club career

Early career

Lazio

Chelsea

Chelsea statistics

Club

International career

Style of play

Managerial career

Milton Keynes Dons

West Bromwich Albion

Chelsea

2011–12

2012–13

Schalke 04

Aston Villa

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

Personal life

Career statistics

International

International goals

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Manager

See also

Notes

References

External links